An action-packed Day 2 of the €3,000 Mystery Bounty, running at the Hilton Prague as part of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour, has reached its conclusion after, the field reduced from 303 players at the start of the day to the final 16. The final prize pool generated €1,432,860.
A total of 119 players made the money after Jay O’Leary bubbled the money with top pair.
After two days of play, Poland's Sebastian Malec, the EPT main event champion, has amassed a commanding chip stack of 3,395,000. Malec enjoyed a solid start to the day but truly shined towards the end, eliminating both Justin Steinbrenner and a double knockout of Dohang Na and Vladimir Heinich. Malec will now rely on his extensive experience in high-stakes tournaments to outmaneuver his remaining opponents.
His closest competitor is Jonas Hagstrom of Sweden, who bagged up second place for 2,925,000 after busting Hoang Phan. Although Hagstorm built his stack up quietly, I'm sure he will be gunning for that top mystery prize.
Eros Calderone bagged 2,695,000 after busting Zdenek Zizka in a huge flip situation, Marcello Miniucchi and Sal Al Fakih.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Malec | Poland | 3,395,000 | 67 |
| 2 | Jonas Hagstrom | Sweden | 2,925,000 | 58 |
| 3 | Eros Calderone | Italy | 2,695,000 | 53 |
| 4 | Grzegorz Kozieja | Poland | 2,640,000 | 52 |
| 5 | Klemens Roiter | Austria | 2,580,000 | 51 |
| 6 | David Vinaya | Norway | 2,500,000 | 50 |
| 7 | Erik Bakker | Netherlands | 1,195,000 | 23 |
| 8 | Ori Miller | Israel | 1,160,000 | 23 |
| 9 | Abdelhakim Zoufri | Netherlands | 1,075,000 | 21 |
| 10 | Dean Hutchison | United Kingdom | 880,000 | 17 |
The allure of Mystery Bounties lies in the chance to win massive prizes - up to 25 times the buy-in - by simply eliminating other players. At Level 15, the game introduced bounty tokens, with three grand prizes of €75,000 and two second-place prizes of €40,000 on the line.
The first player to pull one of the €75,000 prizes was David Savocka who exited in 70th place cashing for €4,100 plus bounties. The first player to win €40,000 was David Von Schnehen who pulled his bounty shortly after busting which I’m sure eased his pain.
When action resumes for Day 3, the highest bounty still in play is a single €75,000 prize, along with two €10,000. Given that the significant Mystery Bounty is still in play, the action might be fast and furious despite the ICM pressure. Still, around two-thirds of the prize pool, €968,560 went to payouts and most of that money is up for grabs on the final table whilst €139,000 still left in bounty prizes.
Here are the remaining payouts:
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | €265,560 |
| 2 | €165,700 |
| 3 | €118,300 |
| 4 | €91,000 |
| 5 | €70,000 |
| 6 | €53,800 |
| 8 | €31,900 |
| 9 | €24,500 |
| 10 – 11 | €18,900 |
| 12 – 13 | €15,700 |
| 14 – 15 | €13,100 |
| 16 | €11,000 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates straight from the tournament floor at 12pm as the event plays down to a winner on Day 3.
